If you want to quickly add a professional edge to a developing business then subcontracting call handling and secretarial support is a good route to take. Costs can be controlled and the risk is minimal....

Being a control freak is a known risk for small business owners. If you want to grow the business you need to step back by delegating more and developing a management team. Procedures and work instructions can also help - paperless is best if you can...

Subcontract personnel can play an important role in expanding businesses. You need to ensure you can maintain a good standard of service quality as new personnel are added. This may require some innovative approaches to dynamically check work....

As soon as your business starts to develop beyond a sole trader situation you need to have a management team in place to support operations, decision making and making it easier to obtain finance. It will also take pressure off you - reducing workloa...

How far you should grow your business depends on finding the right balance between opportunity, personal capability and personal aspiration. It is important to be honest about what you really want as money is not always the full story....

Spending on training employees is not without risk, but not training employees is also risky. The trick is to get the balance right and work with the employee to find the right mix of short and long term incentives and commitment - on both sides....